Padres Insider: Gonzalez, Rizzo, Cashner revisited

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The natives are restless.

Padres fans who didn’t like the Anthony Rizzo-for-Andrew Cashner trade when it went down last Jan. 6 wasted no time revisiting the transaction Wednesday when it was learned that Cashner had lacerated a tendon in the thumb of his pitching hand in a hunting accident.

Because of the circumstances, Cashner had been a lightning rod since he joined the Padres. Now he’s salt in the wound.

Suddenly, the potential that comes with a triple-digit fastball is over-shadowed by medical issues and several decisions Cashner has made over the past 10 weeks.

Why wasn’t Cashner pitching in winter ball like the Padres asked? Why was he hunting? What was he thinking?

But this goes beyond Cashner and the events of last week. This goes back to the Winter Meetings of 2010 when the Padres traded first baseman Adrian Gonzalez to the Red Sox for first base prospect Rizzo, right-handed pitching prospect Casey Kelly, minor league outfielder Reymond Fuentes and infielder-outfielder Eric Patterson.

Padres fans reacted like they had been physically violated by a perceived conspiracy.

Negotiating the deal on the Padres end was new general manager Jed Hoyer, a former Red Sox assistant general manager. Prospects for an All-Star. It was the Padres way. Nothing new here. San Diego is where the term fire sale originated when it comes to baseball.

But wait. Rizzo became one of the game’s top prospects in the summer of 2011. Although he struggled mightily in a 49-game cameo with the Padres -- .141 average with 46 strikeouts in 153 at-bats -- the then 21-year-old hit .331 with 26 homers and 101 RBI in 93 games with Triple-A Tucson.

However, Rizzo’s days with the Padres were numbered. Shortly after replacing Hoyer as the Padres general manager, Josh Byrnes acquired another top first base prospect in Yonder Alonso as part of a four-player package from Cincinnati in exchange for right-handed pitcher Mat Latos.

Three weeks later, Byrnes traded Rizzo to the Cubs for Cashner. The general manager of the Cubs? Hoyer. Conspiracy II according to many Padres fans, who were waiting for it to go wrong so they could say “I told you so.”

Early on, local critics of the Cashner-Rizzo trade were quiet as Cashner had a dazzling spring and became a success in the Padres bullpen. Then the momentum turned.

Rizzo was called up by the Cubs in June and hit .285 with 15 homers and 48 RBI in 87 games. Yes, Wrigley Field is a far better hitter-friendly environment than Petco Park. But the right field fences have come in 10 feet in San Diego, which would have made them more approachable for a left-handed hitter like Rizzo.

Meanwhile, Cashner’s fast start in the bullpen prompted a move to the rotation. But as soon as he landed that spot, Cashner suffered a strained latissimus dorsi muscle that wiped out most of the second half of his season – marking the second straight season lost largely to injury.

The Padres asked Cashner to go to Winter Ball to build innings and strengthen his chances of making the starting rotation. Instead, he went hunting, got stabbed and is spending the next three months recovering from surgery.

Gonzalez begat Rizzo who begat Cashner.

The natives are restless.

Roberts hot ticket

A private baseball lesson with Padres first base coach Dave Roberts drew a high of 70 bids during Major League Baseball’s Stand Up 2 Cancer auction last week.

Roberts, who is a cancer survivor, was part of a four-day auction that raised $152,700 for the SU2C project. Seventy-eight baseball experiences were auctioned on MLB.com. The lesson from Roberts nearly tripled in dollar value during the final hour and went for $4,575.

Winter League update

Wilfredo Boscan, the 23-year-old, right-handed pitcher that the Padres acquired Thursday from Texas to complete the trade that sent reliever Cory Burns to the Rangers, leads the Venezuela Winter League with a 1.53 ERA. He has a 2-1 record in 10 starts.

Jesus Guzman, who is playing first base for Caracas, is hitting .328 with two homers in 58 at-bats in Venezuela. And Alexi Amarista, who is playing third base in Venezuela, is batting .287 with two homers in 150 at-bats.

Kyle Blanks is hitting .286 in Puerto Rico with two homers in 70 at-bats. Minor league outfielder Dan Robertson is batting .222 (26-for-117) in the Dominican Republic. And minor league outfielder Corey Adamson, who will play for Australia in the third World Baseball Classic, is the second-leading hitter (.366) in the Australian Baseball League.